Live Action Chinese Tale Mulan Will Indeed Star a Chinese Actress

After a worldwide search Disney’s live action Mulan
production has finally found their star. And if you thought
that the title role would go to
a white actress, have no fear! Your new Mulan is Chinese
actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that a “team of
casting directors visited five continents and saw nearly 1,000
candidates for the role” looking for a star who could speak
English and had martial arts skills. Yifei, who is known in
China as the “Fairy Sister” for her image, has acted in mostly
Chinese productions but appeared in American-Chinese movies
like 2014’s Outcast with Nicholas Cage and The
Forbidden Kingdom in 2008.

The new Mulan is coming out sometime in 2019 and will
be directed by The Zookeepers Wife’s Niki Caro. She
has
said before that it will be “a big, girly martial arts
epic…it will be extremely muscular and thrilling and
entertaining and moving.” In March
Caro also said that the movie would not include musical
numbers, though that may change in the future.